Reforming National Insurance contributions: a progress report

<p>The most dramatic change in the 1989 Budget was a major reform of the structure of employee's National Insurance contributions (NICs). This was the second occasion on which Mr Lawson had tackled this area, having last altered the system in 1985. In section II of this article we describe briefly the development of NICs since 1948. Section III analyses the 1985 reform. In section IV we discuss the problems which were left after 1985, and describe the 1989 reforms. Section V assesses this latest restructuring</p>